Pilot program places police officer at McCall

The Winchester Police Department is beginning a pilot program at McCall Middle School where an officer would be stationed at the building eight to 10 hours per week.

Evan MacDonald/emacdonald@wickedlocal.com

The Winchester Police Department is beginning a pilot program at McCall Middle School where an officer would be stationed at the building eight to 10 hours per week.

Sgt. Daniel Perenick is looking forward to working with students, staff and parents at the school.

“I’ll be there as additional eyes and ears in the school to support the students, the faculty and the parents,” Perenick said.

Perenick’s role will be similar to the department’s school resource officer, Officer Phil Coss, who serves all of Winchester’s public schools but is primarily stationed at Winchester High School. Perenick actually served as the WPD’s first school resource officer from 2001 to 2008.

Superintendant of Schools William McAlduff discussed the addition at the School Committee’s meeting on Aug. 28, saying it would be a positive for the McCall community.

“Sergeant Perenick is highly regarded, and he’s a perfect choice [for the role],” McAlduff said. “We’ll monitor the position through the year, and hopefully it becomes permanent.”

McCall does have other police presences in the school from time to time such as Coss and safety officer Sgt. Thomas Groux. But Perenick will be the only one with regular hours at the school spread out over several days per week.

The decision to add a regular police presence at McCall was made for several reasons, Perenick said. First and foremost, it will be a position geared more toward being “proactive and preventative” toward issues such as bullying, alcohol and drug use, he said.

However, it will also give students the opportunity to see a police officer on a regular basis and become comfortable with the police. That way, Perenick said, students will feel comfortable asking an officer for help if it’s needed.

“We want parents and kids to know that we’re not here to hurt anybody,” Perenick said. “We’re here to help.”